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Nogard
Nogard, originally born a normal Precursor named Lucifel-''Nogard'' and later dubbed the Necros Demon during the Necros War, was a monstrous warrior beast, created during the Precursor-Hydra War as an attempt to forge a template for an army of anti-Hydra soldiers. Lucifel's thirst for vengeance, however, caused him to fail his overall purpose, and the Precursor Sovereign Council ordered him executed or contained, leading to his imprisonment on Facility-03. Awakened millenia later soon after the Human-Covenant War, Nogard was completely disoriented at first due to a near total memory loss caused from such a long period in cryo-sleep: remembering only the name "Nogard" at first, he went on a quest to rediscover himself and what had happened to his kind, and in the end he came to believe that his kind had abandoned him. Enraged, Nogard began to search for a way to subject his will upon the galaxy, finding a perverted form of vengeance in the concept of ruling all other races, who he deemed unfit to serve as "Mantle-bearers": eventually, this would lead him to his death at Ignito Prime while trying to discover and access the Crucibles via Facility-07. Shortly thereafter, the Necros found Nogard's lifeless body and revived him, creating one of their most deadly cyborg warriors. Throughout the Necros War, Nogard would serve as a warrior for the Necros Lord and Ladies, specifically Grimnir, who had ordered his revival: however, despite his official orders and missions, Nogard constantly sought out his own secret agenda, wishing revenge on the children of Team Alpha and the Lance of Unrelenting Reparation, as well as Riker-012 and Ameigh Broley, for killing him on Ignito Prime. History Tragic Soul Born 502,351 BC as a Precursor named Lucifel, he had a very normal childhood; after graduating from the educational system, he became a scientist, and was deemed a young genius by the top researchers of the Precursor Sovereign Dominion. After a short, century-long stint as a researcher, he entered the military, fighting in the very end of the Precursor-Elder War before becoming a member of a military reconnaissance team, scouting out worlds that were either suitable for being the site for a new colony or were of sufficient interest to be deemed worthy of sending in scientists to research it's unique ecosystem. During these years, Lucifel met his wife-to-be, Mithriel, another member of his team. Married after what was considered an inappropriately short time of courtship – only 60 years – the two worked together for quite some time, which they considered the happiest years of their lives. But it would not last for long It was during this happy time, some 110 years after their marriage, that their team was sent to investigate a new system on the far side of the galaxy. The planet seemed rather devoid of life, despite initial readings of a small biomass signatures, and in the end the search of it proved futile, and the planet was declared barren, devoid of life. However, unbeknownst to the team, their ship had a stowaway: a small Hydra cell form, the last of a dying parasitic species... but it would not be so for long. Upon arriving back at Quasar-class Station Alpha-19, the sole Hydra cell managed to infect a Precursor and secretly hide itself; from there, it was only a short time before it had used the Precursor's biomass to create several more Cell forms. Taking out several more Precursors, the process was repeated, and then once again; soon, there was a small army of Hydra in hiding... at least, temporarily. Sure enough, they soon attacked, causing mass mayhem on the space station, managing to infect half the Precursors before they could escape, and managing to infect another quarter of those that did escape on the ships. Lucifel managed to escape, but Mithriel did not: as they had attempted to flee, Mithriel had been infected right before Lucifel's eyes. Unable to bring himself to kill her, hoping in a sorrow-fuel insanity that he could bring her back, Lucifel merely dodged the former Mithriel's attacks until, in the end, Lucifel's second-in-command Joshuel shot her and dragged the grief-struck Lucifel onto the ship to escape. Lucifel was devastated by Mithriel's death; for nigh on twenty-five years he was in a state of shock, not responding to anything anyone did or said. After this period though, Lucifel finally managed to come out of his depression and joined the Precursor-Hydra War, fighting against the Hydra with a personal vengeance. For the next two centuries he fought valiantly against the Hydra, until, during the Battle of Zeban, he was crippled in a Hydra attack, left completely paralyzed from the chest down. The Transformation After the Battle of Zeban, Lucifel was a cripple, unable to move himself; stubbornly refusing any way of recovery, he refused cybernetic replacements due to his hatred for such things, and he would neither allow himself to be cloned on the claim that it would not really be himself. So, he was assigned to the military strategies division, where he work for a moderate period of 50 years, planning out some of the Precursor's greatest defensive and offensive maneuvers of the entire war. However, while Lucifel was a brilliant strategist, it was not his destiny, a fact he knew full well, as did his brother Gabriel. The Arihpas, or Seignior, of the Precursor Sovereign Dominion, Gabriel knew that they would need a better way to combat the Hydra, as the parasite was gaining ground at an ever increasing pace: so it was that he offered his brother a chance, a chance to become the prototype for a new type of army, one that could withstand the infection of the Hydra and push them back to extinction. When offered, Lucifel immediately accepted, and though the process was long and difficult, he emerged alive, transformed into a beast of war: though in overall form he was still the same as the other Precursors, his appearance and capabilities had changed greatly – his body was covered in armored scales, his feet and hands ended in talons, his wings were now far more functional and useful, and his jaw was filled with deadly teeth and powerful enough to snap bones; his reflexes were faster, he could jump higher, endure longer, survive more pain. He was a living weapon. Fielded immediately, Lucifel proved devastating against the Hydra, and plans were put into motion to begin creating massive armies of genetically-engineered warriors, what would become dubbed “Sub-cursors” by many. Again and again, Lucifel arrived on battlefields and ravaged the armies of the Hydra, who were unable to infect him or badly harm him due to his enhanced healing abilities. Lucifel's deeds became legendary, and in time the soldiers of the Sovereign Dominion's armies began to call him “Nogard”, meaning “Death's Keeper” However, after several years Gabriel became concerned for his brother's sanity: more and more, Lucifel's sanity was coming into question in Gabriel's mind, as with each encounter his brother grew more and more violent, at times seeming as though he would strike down his own brethren if they angered him. Believing part of the problem to be Lucifel's augmentation's, Gabriel began to monitor his brother even more closely, and quietly tried to delay the activation of the Subcursor armies, fearing that such an act could create an army of deranged soldiers that could turn upon them at any moment. Under closer scrutiny, Gabriel finally determined his brother's madness: a desire for vengeance against the Hydra for Mithriel's death over three centuries prior. Called in a for a mental evaluation, Lucifel was told that he would be pulled from service due to his mental instability, and after a brief argument that ended with Lucifel critically wounding the doctor, the decision was final: Gabriel knew for a fact he had to ensure Lucifel regained sanity before anyone else was hurt. However, a surprise attack by the Hydra threw the idea completely off track: the largest fleet of Hydra forces ever assembled, comprised of an estimated 60% of their forces, jumped to the military command planet of Athna, and every man available was required to hold them back. Lucifel was deployed, and while he served admirably against the Hydra, killing entire armies of them, his morality and sanity was also brought into both perspective and question by the battle: observation of his actions showed him killing innocents that could have been saved from their infections via a quick antivirus injection, and it also revealed that he not only killed but violently mutilated infected females while screaming about Mithriel. Upon seeing the evidence, the Precursor Sovereign Council ordered for Lucifel-''Nogard's immediate elimination or cryo-containment: however, Gabriel delayed the order by reassigning Lucifel to the final assault upon the Hydra forces, half-heartedly hoping that his brother died in battle so that he would not be forced to kill Lucifel himself. Final Destination The final assault upon the Hydra forces was directed upon their last bastion, a planet known as The Ruin, where the entirety of their species had gathered. Deploying all their available fighting forces to destroy the Hydra once and for all, Lucifel led many troops into combat as the ''Nogard, defeating wave after wave even as his comrades fell around him time and again: Lucifel was oblivious to this however, and charged forward unrelentingly, driving straight through the armies of the Hydra, headed directly for the Heart Form, Omniheart. When at last Lucifel reached Omniheart, the creature attempted to convince him of his superiority over the other Precursors, and that for this reason they planned to have him killed – information the Heart Form had gained from a fallen Precursor commander that had been absorbed during the battle. Though the information haunted Lucifel, he denied it and proceeded to not only battle Omniheart, but defeat the beast and leave the Hydra uncoordinated, each suddenly acting on its' own: in this chaos, Gabriel managed to direct the troops to corral and then obliterate the Hydra forces, driving them completely extinct save the select few samples preserved for study by Precursor scientists. But while most of the Precursors began to celebrate the end of the millenia long Precursor-Hydra War, many others mourned the dramatic loss of life that had left the once grand Sovereign Dominion destroyed, with a measly 75 million left alive after the cataclysmic struggle. However, for some, the war was not yet over, and Lucifel was not in the least at home in a galaxy relieved of war. As they had said prior to the Assault on the Ruins, the Precursor Sovereign Council ordered that Lucifel be contained, fearing that his enhanced powers and his violence combined could cause a large amount of mayhem within the already chaotic post-war situation: so, it fell upon Gabriel to bring his brother in to face trial and punishment, with an execution likely. However, despite his best attempts, things went awry just as Gabriel had predicted: knowing that the Council wished to kill him out of fear of his capabilities, Lucifel attempted to break away, causing destruction throughout the station he was located in and killing or wounding numerous Precursors, soldiers and civilians alike. With Lucifel running rampant throughout what was once Precursor space, Gabriel led a vast search, at last finding Lucifel on the edge of tamed space. After a long confrontation, Lucifel was captured and brought to the nearest Precursor base, Facility-03: known as the Beacon, it served both as a form of communication and alert hub, as well as an advanced cryo-testing facility. When it was decided that killing Lucifel was nigh impossible in an ethical fashion, an extra cryo-chamber was added to the station with little hassle, specifically built to contain Lucifel until he died of old age: despite Lucifel's final, ill-fated attempt to escape, the Precursors managed to place him within containment chamber, Gabriel himself personally activating it and sealing Lucifel away for eternity. Paradise Lost For countless millenia, Nogard and the Beacon Facility within which he was imprisoned would remain untouched and unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy. Over this extended period of time, the facility slowly began to degrade, held up only by the marvels of the Precursor's pre- architecture. Last Battle of Ceres Nogard appeared once again at the Battle of Ceres, fulfilling his duties of killing out the Hydra, but also seeking revenge against the children of Team Alpha and Dragon Squadron, realizing them to be the children of those that had nearly killed him. Over the course of the battle he was responsible for the deaths of many Hydra, UNSC, USR, Remnants and Flood forces, and nearly stopped the detonation of the Ceres Installation, but in the end he allowed the planet and the surrounding enemy forces to be destroyed while he fled into the nether regions of space. Battle of Facility-13 During a routine check on Covenant Pirate activity, the UNSC Saint John went missing. After two weeks, the AUR sent out a commando team of war veterans composed of Team Delta, Justin Davis and Quris 'Nephtyr; arriving at the last known co-ordinates, they discovered the ruined bulk of the ship orbiting an unknown planet. Upon investigating the ship logs, the cause of its' state was discovered: the planet housed the presumed dead monstrosity known as Nogard. Nogard had somehow survived the Battle of Ceres, and had come to this planet (which housed Precursor Facility 13) to build an army with which he would carry out his galactic domination. The commando group waged a short guerilla war, sabotaging countless pieces of the planet's robot-manufacturing plants, as well as Nogard's personal cloning facility. It was futile however, as in an attempt to stop Nogard from fleeing, the commando group attacked Nogard, only to be brutally murdered by the power-hungry renegades of Team Beta. The AUR arrived shortly after, Team Alpha attempting to kill the beast, but were stopped and almost killed by Team Beta; Team Beta found a final redemption in the end however, as they were inspired by Fleet Admiral Jim Wilson's noble death at the hands of Nogard, a sacrifice that saved Team Beta's lives. In the end, an orbital strike was called in, from which an escape could barely be made: in the last moments, Team Beta gave up their chance of escape to save Team Alpha and Dragon Squadron's lives, then gave Nogard a deadly wound before his escape, going out with honor as the facility was destroyed by the AUR fleets' fire. Though Nogard and his forces had escaped, they had not done so before a tracking device could be placed on one of their ships... Death... ]] Assembling one of the largest fleets in recent history, the AUR launched a final assault to kill this abomination from the past. Arriving at the volcanic world of Ignito Prime, the combined forces took on Nogard's clone-led, robot-composed army. Difficulties soon arose however as the Hydra appeared (the parasite race had also disappeared after the Battle of Ceres), intent on “total absorption” of the galaxy once again; soon, Nogard and Blackheart did battle, ending in an odd form of truce: Blackheart unsuccessfully infected Nogard, yet his own conscience was destroyed, and somehow his control over the Hydra hive-mind lived on in the now Hydra-infused Nogard. Team Alpha, Dragon Squadron and the Squad of Unrelenting Reparation led a strike force deep behind enemy lines, assaulting the main fortress facility and managed to find Nogard. Confronting Nogard, they dueled with the beast, even as a timer counted down to the destruction of the planet, a self-destruct sequence set off by Nogard himself. In the end, the three teams went down one by one, but as James, Katelynn, Jemsal and Ketynic finally managed to mortally wound the seemingly invincible beast, he managed to turn the tables; however, the planet then began to explode, and, while Nogard was distracted, James grabbed Clayton's rocket launcher, shoved it into a wound in Nogard's stomach and pulled the trigger. As the last of the teams died, they knew their duty was done, and their parents' were avenged. ...and Rebirth Ignito Prime was both just beyond the borders of AUR space and a volcanic, unusable world, so it was little watched and of little importance. So, it was with little difficulty that the Necros scavenged the battered, broken and dead body of Nogard from the planets' wreckage. Using their mechanical prowess, they replaced several damaged body parts and integrated new ones as well: a large, slide-out blade was integrated into Nogard's right arm; his badly damaged left arm was replaced with a mechanical duplicate, ending in a four-piece, revolving gun using Necros piercer rounds; a large cannon was placed in his chest; a cybernetic view-finder replaced his left eye; a grasping, spear-claw was placed onto his tail; both his legs were replaced with mechanical versions; almost in mockery of the mythological Dragons that Humans found Nogard to resemble, a flamethrower was placed in Nogard's mouth; finally, Nogard's wings, which had been practically destroyed, were replaced with a large, precision jetpack, similar in aesthetic design to the USR's Hippogriff. Nogard was now whole once more, yet at the same time he was restrained, no longer being free to do as he willed. He was a slave of the Necros; a high-ranking slave, but a slave nonetheless: His strengths gave him rank above the lower Necros infantry, and his Precursor knowledge gave him a place of importance in the Necros' grasp for the galaxy's powerful, ancient artifacts. Despite Nogard's official, Necros-oriented objectives, he carried with him one other: to hunt down those that had killed him, those who ended his life in vengeance for their parents he had killed. Blood called for blood, limbs for limbs, death for death, and Nogard, he that had cheated death itself, would be the one to deliver the sentence with his own claws. Vengeance Searching for The Crucible To Defeat the Devil Description Nogard is tall and strong, not easily hurt or pushed around. Of the senses he has, they are highly tuned. His scales are hard on his back, and can take much punishment, but his front is less resistant, though still tougher than normal human skin. Because of this, he tries to block attacks to his front as much as possible. His wings are also rather thin and flimsy, and when not in use Nogard sheathes them in hard, bone-like coverings that are highly effective melee weapons. Of note is that Nogard's teeth and talons are artificial, made from a unique Precursor material that, while seemingly life-like, is in fact a form of hard metal. To prevent infection via the Hydra, Nogard possesses several unique traits. His skin has virtually no entrances to the inside: pours, eyes, ears and a "waste excretion point" do not exist. Since he can digest any sustenance any amount of times, this get rids of a necessity for pours or any form of excretion. His sense of hearing isn't true hearing, much more like a radar using something like a shark's lateral line to detect things around him. His sight is not in the normal spectrum, instead being in the infrared. This has both its' advantages and disadvantages, as he can hunt in both dark and arctic environments easily due to his vision picking up only heat. The is a disadvantage when hunting creatures that are cold-blooded or in an already hot environment. His second unique trait is his regenerative capabilities. Small injuries are healed quickly, but major injuries take time to heal. He can do nothing about lost limbs, which take days to weeks to regrow, if he doesn't die before then. Weaknesses While Nogard is powerful, nothing is invincible. As Hydra are semi-clear, vision is a near useless sense, so the Precursors put it to a minimum. Instead, Nogard sees in something close to infrared, but even that is only effective to up to 10 feet. His vision also disadvantages him in hot environments and against cold-blooded opponents. He is also top-heavy, having most of his bulk in his upper torso, so he has trouble with balance, though his tail helps him some. His front side, including his chest and stomach area, is very soft and vulnerable to any sort of attack. Also, if enough of his blood is lost, Nogard will die, as would any other creature. Alternate versions Against All Odds What If? In the Alternate Universe, Nogard's history was much the same. He was created, he attacked his makers, he was set into stasis and he slumbered for millenia upon millenia. Strangely, while the Hydra managed to escape the Beacon, Nogard did not. He remained in stasis, and was not found until some time in the 2540's. A small group of Covenant found him and worshiped him as a god. Trivia *Nogard's name was inspired by Dragonclaws. The name is dragon backwards, which Dragonclaws has used before as for a username. As for the picture used, it came from here. It is not mine. The original owner can be found here. Sources Literary References *''Halo: Death's Cold Grip'' (2554) *''Halo: Well Enough Alone'' (2556) *''Halo: Orbit of Glass'' (2556 - Circa 500,000 BC) *''Halo: All Good Things....'' (2588) *''Halo: ....Must Come to an End'' (2589) *''Survival of the Fittest, Season 1'' (Non-canon) *''Survival of the Fittest, Season 2'' (Non-canon) *''Survival of the Fittest, Season 3'' (Non-canon) *''Survival of the Fittest, Season 4'' (Non-canon) Notational References Category:Precursor